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Today I present a post I never wanted to write – yet circumstances are such, and the leading of the Lord so clear that I am left with no recourse…
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is like a tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12
For those who’ve been around the site a while, you’ll understand what I am pointing to in the above quote. The fact is, over the past several years there have been a number of prophecies – as of yet – unfulfilled. While that’s a bitter pill to swallow, the crux of the issue is that these prophecies represented something I consider to be pretty important; hope.
Recently I had an experience that is very telling – while sitting at dinner, my daughter happened to be watching a kids program on her tablet. I listened somewhat half-heartedly to the dialogue (as I am always trying to assess whether given content is inappropriate for my kids) when one of the characters made a shocking statement:
Not all prophecies are true, [my name]
I kid you not. The character being talked to on the show had my exact name – and while I’m not going to get into it, let’s just say that my name isn’t exactly common.
I stopped eating and pondered what I’d just heard. I mean, clearly the Lord was getting my attention, but the statement left me a bit bewildered – I mean; first of all “duh“… but that leaves me with more questions; to which prophecies does this refer exactly? I mean, was the Lord trying to tell me that I have invested belief in a statement that isn’t true? I think so, the problem is, which one(s)? There are, to-date, certain words that have been given that simply cannot turn my back on; “America SHALL be saved” comes leaping to mind. Furthermore, it isn’t the prophecy, or even the one delivering the word in which I put my faith, but the one I believe gave that word; God himself.
As the week has worn on, I have gained in clarity and understanding – particularly at the continued leading and communication of the Lord Himself. I often hear messages and see themes from one to another; this past week, significantly so. The subject matter of these messages has focused on Sinai, Gilgal, Jericho and Gideon.
Now, allow me to illustrate the theme I see present within these topics; first, no one expected, when following Moses out of Egypt, to spend forty years at the base of Mount Sinai, yet they did. Gilgal – the place where Israel encamped after crossing the Jordan, was not their destination, but a place of preparation. It would be some time, months, before the conquest of the land promised Abraham would begin and, when it finally did, it marked the beginning of a five-year campaign.
Hopefully, you can see the common thread throughout, but then, what about Gideon?
Gideon was, for all intents and purposes, the unlikeliest of heroes, given his circumstances. What’s more is that while the Lord whittled Gideon’s forces down to 300, the ensuing “battle” – miraculous though it was – certainly strikes me as “lackluster” when compared with some of the more grandiose manifestations throughout the bible. I mean, there are no columns of fire coming down from heaven, no Angels unleashing a can of Holy whoop-ass… instead we see the enemy thrown into such panic and confusion that they essentially destroyed themselves.
Let that sink in for a moment. Gideon and his men basically didn’t even have to raise a blade – they sounded the shofar, smashed pots on the ground and then allowed events to unfold. Basically, they obeyed God’s instruction and the rest took care of itself!
So all of that doesn’t sound so bad right? You may be wondering what about this constitutes the message I didn’t want… but then that would mean you’re overlooking the circumstances. 400 years in Egypt, 215 of them in slavery, 40 years in the wilderness, months of preparation before five years of battle…
You get it right?
The issue I’m facing personally is that I am years into this and, every time I think we’re about to cross the threshold, I seem to only find more yet to be done, fought for and contended over. It is, quite frankly, disheartening. I could dig more into this, but honestly, I’d just be complaining – and far be it form me to put myself in the same camp as those who grumbled at Sinai…
In the end, I don’t have a “plan b”, nor am I contemplating one. God IS sovereign, regardless of what the circumstances look like and, even if we are doomed to wade through a charade util He comes, He IS coming – and that is the real moment we’ve all been waiting for. In the meantime, what can I do but soldier on. I don’t like the means or the timing through which everything is playing out, but then I’m not in charge… so on I go; hopeful that we will yet see a Gideon moment wherein the hand of God overturns the circumstances.
Until next time,
שלום עליכם – Shalom Aleichem – Peace Be Upon You